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: Almost didn’t but did finish: The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov 📚 This earned five out of …

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: Happy (Real) Star Wars Day This is a pin sold for charity by the D.C. Area Star Wars Collecting Club …

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: Pencil-King

: Rocks. Wood.

: As found. “42.”

: Please dispose of your pleases in the proper receptacle.

: At the Key School, Annapolis Book Festival

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: Station Break

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: Interesting to see the cover of Astounding from 1945 when Asimov’s Foundation and Empire was …

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: Finished listening to: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 📚 🎧 Great narrator. Audible

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: More from the Annapolis Book Festival, where the Wild Things were.

: Squire Frederick, official town crier of Annapolis, Maryland, at the Annapolis Book Festival

: Annapolis Book Festival

: Finished reading: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov 📚 🤖 🔹️

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: Finished reading: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov 📚 Shame I haven’t read this before now. I …

: Finished reading: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 📚 (Finished in January but …

: Finished reading: Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein 📚

: Finished reading: Wolves by Simon Ings 📚

: The Birds of Paradise The birds of paradise, as they came to be known throughout Europe, were as celebrated as the cloves, …

: But Not Too Much of That “Well, I like a lot of talk in a book, and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s …

: Lord Strange’s Men These are performed up and down the country by theater companies called after lords, for example …

: Manna Chiande Raia The man…lac. The woman…perampuan. The youth…benibeni. The married woman…babai. The chin…silan. The …

: String Theory: Using Bunny's Image Optimizer Not everyone knows a query string from a shoestring. I didn’t. And when Bunny.net’s own …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Mirror. #mbmar

: He Who Controls the Spice Beyond the profits from spices, the completion of Magellan’s voyage finally gave the Spanish a water …

: This sculpture prompts you to aspire. 📷 Photo Challenge: Prompt (a day late). #mbmar

: That Heavenly Relic Lysippus’ Hercules was melted for its bronze; so was Bellerophon on his flying horse; the Servant of …

: The People From the Sky He learned to communicate with them “either by speech or signs,” but no matter what …

: These arches likely don’t support the weight above them, since they are made of small plaster …

: The idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such things do not happen in criminal practice in England. …

: The spice must flow. 📷 Photo Challenge: Spice. #mbmar

: What Cook Noticed In his voyages across the Pacific, Cook had noticed that as far east as Easter Island and as far …

: The Unwritten Rule The initial reactions of both leaders had been bellicose. Kennedy had favored an air strike; …

: His most detested vice was the lie, maybe because with the help of the mathematical science he knew …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Chance. #mbmar

: Tiny print outside a camera store that closed decades ago reveals a bygone world. This remains on …

: The Blackwing Volume 1138 pencil next to my copy of the novelization of the movie THX-1138, by Ben …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Portico #mbmar

: Versus — Not Verse — Not Even Viz Let’s go back to pronouncing “vs.” properly. The abbreviation “vs.” is …

: A Hidden Prince Whether Oxford was born in September or October 1548 to Princess Elizabeth by Thomas Seymour, or in …

: “By the dawn’s early light.” Fort McHenry, Flag Day, 2008. (The flag measures 30 …

: The road goes ever onward. 📷 Photo Challenge: Road. #mbmar

: It took patience to get this shot because clouds kept obscuring the sun (the real one, not the mural …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Horizon. #mbmar

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Connection. #mbmar

: Rewrite, yes, but don’t stop to rewrite.

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Shiny. #mbmar

: Symptomatic of the Dysfunction It is symptomatic of the dysfunction within the White House that a break-in Nixon explicitly ordered …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Gimcrack. #mbmar

: A Special Navigation Helmet In spite of these obvious difficulties, Galileo had designed a special navigation helmet for finding …

: Currently reading: Wolves by Simon Ings 📚 Not sure about this one, but didn’t want to leave …

: Firing a cannon on the U.S.S. Constellation follows strict forms of procedure. 📷 Photo Challenge: …

: A Running Narrative in the Perfect Tense INTERVIEWER: Do you map out your way with any kind of outline or notes before you begin? BALLARD: …

: All these squiggles together emphasize that this mall was built in the ‘80s. 📷 Photo …

: A Rampage Through the Inner Solar System Jupiter is not just the oldest planet orbiting the sun—it’s also the largest. So when the young gas …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Walk. #mbmar

: Speaking of the Great Maryland Baking Show… 📷 Photo Challenge: Whole. #mbmar

: Watching “Great British Baking Show” to distract from bad back pain. Maybe hot chocolate …

: Spring is coming. Soon the steampunk will begin to sprout. 📷 Photo Challenge: Engineering. #mbmar

: The Eye-Aching Glimmer INTERVIEWER: What are your daily working habits like? BALLARD: Every day, five days a week. Longhand …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Tile. #mbmar

: Costume as a Visual Art There were outfits of cloth of gold, Florentine velvet, silver tissue, damask and satin, mantles …

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Weather. #mbmar

: 📷 Photo Challenge: Secure. #mbmar

: An Alternate History Charles Thomson was uniquely qualified to write a history of his times. As secretary of the …

: Jefferson on Washington To Jefferson, Washington had been a grand, often distant figure whose grace and aloofness made him a …

: To Acquire a Quire “In the Middle Ages, a quire (also called a ‘gathering’) was most often formed of …

: John Steinbeck Must Have Used a Selectric In this interview with John Steinbeck’s son Thomas conducted by the makers of Blackwing …

: Filled a stub nib TWSBI Eco Yellow with Noodler’s Baltimore Canyon Blue, as you do.

: A State of Chronic Edginess Writing a novel is one of those modern rites of passage, I think, that lead us from an innocent …

: The Size of the World Ptolemy’s omissions inadvertently encouraged exploration because he made the world seem smaller and …

: Oh! Double 0 ... Seven! A man whom Elizabeth called “my philosopher,” [John] Dee inspired the character of …

: A Forked Fork In 1004, a Byzantine aristocrat named Maria sparked enormous interest in Venice by eating with an …

: Adventures Were What They Were Being Protected From Heinlein always had a hard time coming up with ideas for these boys’ books. He had to invent …

: Finished reading: The Smoke by Simon Ings 📚 Nice to read something that has a style to it again. …

: Incoming Transmission: Yog-sothoth Incoming transmission: Yog-sothoth by Cryo Chamber Collaboration From Bandcamp: “A 2 hour …

: Looks like Markdown blockquotes get an extra set of quotation marks when put through ActivityPub …

: “To me, in order to make a good American pie you almost have to make it British.” — …

: The Essential Features of the Modern Revolt The ballet contains and illustrates many of the essential features of the modern revolt: the overt …

: Finished reading: Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (The American Revolution Series) by …

: Carneys, Causeways, and Herepaths Pilgrim paths, green roads, drove roads, corpse roads, trods, leys, dykes, drongs, sarns, snickets — …

: Incoming Transmission: Teliffusion Incoming transmission: Teliffusion by Concretism. From Bandcamp: “‘The album is an …

: Be Strong and Courageous On a walk I stumbled upon a sign — a placard, a painting — facing outward in a second-story window …

: Incoming Transmission: Interim Report, March 1979 Incoming transmission: Interim Report, March 1979 by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan. …

: Incoming Transmission: For Concrete and Country Incoming transmission: For Concrete and Country by Concretism. From Bandcamp: “This album …

: Giving up on this “Troy” series after 20 minutes. Nice cinematography and constant sun …

: Graphic Design Kamishibai Discovered through John Coulthart’s feuilleton blog, this post from Spoon & Tamago about a …

: Between East and West. 2010.

: Can’t believe I successfully set up GitHub to post the things using the GitHub thing. Still …

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: Station Break

: Revisiting this, written by Fritz Lang’s wife concurrently with the making of the film. 1975 …

: The lads. (Privateer Festival, Baltimore, 2018)

: The Heavy Dark. Baltimore, 2012.

: Edgar Allan Poe, Jan. 19, 1809 to Oct. 7, 1849. Marker at original burial site. Westminster Hall, …

: Skipping through some Twelfth Night on or around Twelfth Night. I like the sun described as …

: ✅ Vow to never open a GitHub account because you don’t need one and you’re not a …

: Buon Natale 🎄 🇮🇹

: Munch. East Wing, 2010.

: East Wing, 2010.

: Shards. East Wing, 2010.

: East Wing, 2010

: National Gallery of Art, between the wings, 2010

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: {Signal Station Identification: I wasn’t finished with what I started for mbnov so I’ve …

: The Signal Station Below are my posts for Micro.blog’s Microblogvember challenge, from first to last. For the …

: A mirror. An atmospheric effect. Water droplets coalescing a rainbow. But it was real. We were ten …

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: Four people under that sail. One with a lantern jaw. One with green eyes (or one blue). And one no …

: The wind shifted and trended west, and what was under the sail burst out of the clouds. I saw the …

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: I didn’t know Davies’ motivation in bringing us to this pass. Cloud curdled under the …

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: When it came my time to work the sheet I yanked the boom to the other side. I had to change the …

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: It was a ritual by now, how we took turns working the sail. Then Davies instructed us how we were …

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: Four miles away. If I was to retain my sanity I could not look down. So I looked at Fane, notable …

: “Grond, they called it.” (2009)

: The sail approached. Like I said before. Like you needed an update. But for one glorious moment in …

: The edge of the sail grazed my cheek; the cold and the wind made it a knife. All four of us wrestled …

: Ice glazed the railing. The wind was brittle. My God, why the roof? Ainsforth and Fane looked …

: The “Farewell”

: I’ve been to the Grand Canyon. That titanic space is something felt in your chest more than …

: Westminster Hall, Baltimore, 2009

: “Where are you going?” Up the clanging stairs, a spin of the wheel, the whoosh of air, …

: Inflatable SLS. (National Mall, Apollo 50th, July 20, 2019.)

: Unfazed, Davies moved past me with a smile. “Don’t you tire of all this?” I asked. …

: Time Travelers. (Westminster Hall, Baltimore, 2009. Edgar Allan Poe funeral re-enactment.)

: All this sailcloth came out of a barrel stamped with that company name: Neverland. I was going to …

: I was furious. “The pipegyros. The steamcurloes. The semiirons. Lighting the beacon in the …

: Let’s go, Artemis. (July 20, 2019, National Air and Space Museum, Apollo 50th celebration. …

: A spiral staircase leads to the main storage bin. That is where I found him, among verdigrised …

: Was the Cheshire Cat Schrödinger’s cat before Schrödinger had a cat?

: Westminster Hall, Baltimore, 2009

: Davies knew. Davies knew. I stormed through to look for him. Through some impossible how the Signal …

: My eyes had to adjust, but not from light. The concrete 30 feet below was shadowed in blue. Cola …

: Westminster Hall, Baltimore, 2009

: “Down the hatch.” The wind blew me to one side. Dizziness took me. The world shot …

: “You just have to fake it until you bake it.” — “The Great British Baking …

: I must have made quite the display. I had Ainsforth tie the rope around me before going down the …

: The Signal Station is built like a submarine. There are pipes, circular doors, and wheels for …

: I was the only one who wasn’t certain. So they all stared at me as if to say, “Well, go …

: I wish we hadn’t reached a consensus. I would prefer to blame Davies as delusional. Ainsforth …

: The fog surrounding the Signal Station plays tricks. I had already dismissed the double blue flames, …

: I woke up at 1 a.m. thinking it was Monday and got to enjoy the realization that it was Sunday. Then …

: The sail approaches, miles away, though visible through the fog. I have not mentioned the fog. It …

: Davies (it’s always Davies) says that there is a country of origin stamped in blue ink on the …

: The only airdrop we’ve had to the Signal Station in the past 60 days was comprised of 37 …

: The sail approached. Davies said we should signal it. He jumped to the beacon before I could stop …

: “Please don’t cry in the chocolate.” — “The Great British Baking …

: The circumflex window of the Signal Station was a more prominent feature than the beacon itself. …

: The figure in the vestibule of the Signal Station is unrecognizable. The verdigris has grown thick. …

: The Signal Station

: Prince: Farewell, Allhallown summer. — Henry IV, Part I Happy Allhallown Eve. 🎃

: Beethoven would be totally into air guitar. Not sure about Mozart.

: “He started writing The Star Lummox [The Star Beast] on August 26…. He was able, even …

: “Heinlein was able to start Starman Jones on February 2, 1953, and finish up on February 28, …

: I don’t own a laptop, but I assume the Micro.blog sticker doesn’t mind sharing a …

: “Just a hippie gypsy.” — The Who. And the self-description on my résumé.

: The lawyers to The Signal Station travel in their own railcar.

: “So Athena vowed and under her feet fastened the supple sandals, ever-glowing gold, that wing …

: Prince: Farewell, latter spring. Farewell, Allhallown summer. — Henry IV, Part I

: Falstaff: ‘Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear. … Prince: What …

: In the mall parking lot, though it’s cloudy, you can catch someone’s shadow in a puddle …

: Cold morning and grey in the mall parking lot. Others are there, sitting in their trucks or …

: Heinlein wrote from “can” to “can’t” each day. There was no try.

: Butterflies Are Free. 1972. Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert. Rating: Many popcorns. 🍿 🎟

: Truly, living in a library, a museum or a mall would be bliss for me.

: Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore will be renovated to include apartments. I want to live there. …

: Have been watching so much “Great British Baking Show” I now say “maths” …

: I can jump out of the cupboard to surprise Aristotle but then I would still have to come up with a …

: “All birds are dinosaurs,” Dr. Holtz always said in his Balticon presentations. I …

: In the mall there’s a wooden sculpture of the word “Wish” with a handle in its …

: Tinnitus from the sirens because you chose to walk and their volume is set for people in cars with …

: Moby-Dick as first and still modern novel, with Gibsonian superspecificity and the minute detail of …

: In a Philip K. Dickian scenario we could all become Stilpo.

: But what if Stilpo turns out to be Big Brother? One must first find out who Stilpo is in order to be …

: 🎼 And do you think you’ve made the right decision this time?” — The Smiths

: I’m with Stilpo too, Zeno.

: It’s like something out of Philip K. Dick: the overarching personality that everyone is …

: I’m With Stilpo: The Musical

: “If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with …

: “Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain …

: “How bloodily the sun begins to peer above yon bulky hill. The day looks pale at his …

: “What, Hal, how now, mad wag?” — Henry IV, Part I

: The telegraphickers at The Signal Station sometimes tap out their codes in metal.

: I earned two demerits on my nerd card yesterday. I forgot it was “Space: 1999” day until someone …

: “I’m shocked – shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.” …

: Learned: When using the Dataview plugin in Obsidian, do not use a field name that begins with …

: “You were just let down by time.” — “The Great British Baking Show”

: Falstaff: Why, there is it: come sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a …

: I wish some Elizabethan terms found in Shakespeare were still around. I’d find it useful to …

: It’s heartening to hear newscasters call Artemis “NASA’s moon rocket.” 🚀

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: Retro 51 Maryland flag pen from Penquisition, with matching pen sleeve by Rickshaw Bags.

: Also serving Magritte Green Apples and Pollock Spaghetti.

: Saw a sign for Saval Deli and it made me think of Salvador Dali. Now I want to open a shop called …

: “And soon I shall have understanding of video cassette recorders and car telephones. And when …

: In memory. Actor David Warner, 1941 – 2022.

: ”… and dozens of others who made art from history’s trash and yoked together …

: Signal Station Waiting Room

: “We taught you, because you already knew.” — Master Kan, “Kung Fu”

: Signal Station Pressure Mount

: “That which you do not know, the doing will quickly teach you.” — Master Po, …

: Advice from The Signal Station

: Signal Station Main Dispatch

: Signal Station Telegraphicker

: Hemingway said, “… stop while you are going good.” I understand this. Thelonius …

: New boxes from Musgrave Pencil. These pencils used to be packaged in plastic bags. ✏ Shiny.

: Local store low on spices. Whatever happened to “the spice must flow”?

: Radio Free Signal Station

: “Fear is the enemy…. Do what must be done with a docile heart.” – Master …

: “Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 30: Red

: Discovered while trying to find screenshot of planet Meta signal: Big Finish is now making audio …

: In the premiere episode of “Space: 1999” (1974), a probe has been sent to the rogue …

: “There are no lines in the real world, so don’t paint them.” — Leonardo da Vinci

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 28: Underneath

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 27: Chaos. Perhaps more chaos theory.

: Poe Country

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 25: Gravity. The Moon’s gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.

: Ephemerama A prolonged display or exhibition of things that last only a short time.

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 24: Connection. There are many connections behind the engine of a …

: Signal Station Identification

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 21: Space. Space swag gathered at the Apollo 50th Festival celebrating …

: I liked coming across this video interview with Roald Dahl from the 1980s. I’d read that he …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 20: Sports. One can always hope for another. 🏈 🟪

: First day it’s felt like fall.

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 17: Compass. One of some notebooks I’ve made for myself. Meant …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 16: Rotation

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 12: Legend

: “Don’t break the chain!” – Jerry Seinfeld, on writing every day 📝

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 11: Hygge. “Dinner over, we produced a bundle of pens, a …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 10: Bridges. Still unpainted, a bridge I made with plaster bricks cast …

: "You don't seem to be worrying too much about what will happen." "If I worry, will the future …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 5: Toy. Once we’re past a certain age, we’re made to call them …

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 3: Majority

: 📷 October Photo Challenge Day 2: Dark

: “A shock of hair.” “A mop of hair.” Avoid cliché, which in itself is a …

: Oh, my … Ravens! 🏈 🟪 Longest field goal in NFL history.

: All the times I should have used the I Ching.

: Watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 🎟 🍿 When Sean Connery and Denholm Elliot’s …

: The Signal Station (Taken 2012)

: Use a pencil, he said. Use a pencil. I am, sir. I am. And Beethoven used carpenters’ pencils, …

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: Watched Juggernaut for the zillionth time. A classic thriller and not as recognized as it should be. …

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: Barnabas offering a glass of Amontillado to Peter in the old house is a nice touch. (Rewatching some …

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: Do as much in camera as you can. It will save time later in the darkroom. 📝

: More than pleased to discover that the e-book ISBN for Logan’s Run contains the numbers …

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: “It’s really important to keep in mind who you are now because people are always …

: “The demands on a Vulcan’s character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake …

: Recently listened to this fantastic performance of Beowulf by Julian Glover. He even breaks out into …

: J.M.W. Turner, “Sunrise With Sea Monsters” (unfinished, ca. 1845)